Growing need to collaborate on sugar
Sugar beet growers from across the East of England can find out more about saving costs by working more closely together at three events organised jointly with English Food and Farming Partnerships (EFFP) and NFU Sugar, later this month.
The three seminars will provide detailed information and case studies from a major survey of growers on collaboration and cost-sharing in sugar beet production. The survey has shown that 69 percent of respondents already collaborate in areas such as cultivations and drilling, harvesting and haulage, but that there are many more opportunities to increase efficiency in sugar beet production.
"NFU Sugar and EFFP have put together a range of case studies to illustrate the collaboration report, Share to Grow Sugar Beet," says NFU East Midlands' senior policy adviser, Simon Fisher. "The aim of the seminars is to disseminate the information to help growers become more efficient, especially as the sugar industry is changing so dramatically with overheads increasing and the producer price falling.
"It is easy to say that growers should collaborate more, but we know that they are independently minded people and perhaps are wary of committing to such ventures. However, from the research and from growers' own experiences we've found that collaboration adds value rather than cost. Both NFU Sugar and EFFP are keen to ensure that all growers have an opportunity to find out about the saving that can be made."
NFU Sugar has joined forces with East of England and East Midlands Regional Development Agencies and the English Farming and Food Partnerships on the Share to Grow Sugar Beet project.
Growers will have the chance to discuss the findings at morning meetings taking place at the East of England Showground, Peterborough, on 19 November, the Olde Barn, Marston, Grantham on 20 November and Easton College, Norwich on 21 November. Each seminar begins at 9.30am with coffee and will finish around 12.30pm with opportunities to discuss collaboration and cost sharing both with the speakers and with growers who are successfully undertaking activities already.
